Crescent City to Grants Pass Highway 199 Road Guide - California & Oregon Redwood Highway

Eight Dollar Mountain, Oregon

ZERO YOUR ODOMETER at the intersection of Highway 46 (the Oregon Caves Highway)

0.0 Highway 46, Cave Junction

0.9 Siskiyou Medical Clinic (right).

1.2 Laurel Road is the route followed by the Old Redwood Highway Road Guide. The old Laurel Cemetery, established in the 1800s is located about a half a mile up this road on the right. The only golf course in the valley is located to the left at this intersection.

2.1 To the left before crossing the Holton Creek Bridge, you may see a portion of a metal flue used for the Kerby Ditch, the abandoned water ditch that brought water from the Illinois River to Kerbyville. Holton Creek was named for Dr Daniel Holton, the person generally credited for founding Kerbyville.

On the right side of the road is the old Kerby Union School, which was purchased by the Kerbyville Masons and donated to Rogue Community College. The local Art Guild has a gallery in the building. The Kerbyville Masons are one of the oldest fraternity organizations in Oregon history. Belt Lodge 18 began in 1858 before Oregon became a state. It remains as one of the oldest active Masonic Lodges in Oregon.

Finch Road is on the left just past the Holton Creek Bridge. The road crosses the Illinois River on an old one-lane trellis bridge, which was constructed to replace the swinging bridge that was used by autos to cross the river. The swinging bridge was destroyed during the flood of 1955.

2.4 Kerbyville Museum (right):
Kerbyville Museum is the official museum of Josephine County and has displays of local historic interest. Outside displays include an old log school house, farming equipment, a miner’s cabin and a replica of a Native American home. The Naucke House is a late 1800s home that has been refurbished to that era. Tours of the house are offered by museum staff.

The picture below of Kerbyville was taken from the vicinity of the museum. Eight Dollar Mountain can be seen in the background. The Agness Sawyer Maple Tree is seen in the middle right.

The Cabax Lumber Mill was located across the street from the museum and was one of the larger operations in the valley before it closed. During the flood of 1964, logs from the mill were washed down river and created a log jam that backed up water and covered Highway 199 with up to 17 feet of water at the Reeves Creek Bridge two miles ahead.

Kerbyville, Oregon as it may have appeared around 1910. 2.5 Entering historic Kerbyville
The town of Kerby, formerly known as Kerbyville, was established at the junction of the 1852 Cold Springs Mountain Pack Trail and the 1857 Turnpike and Puncheon Road. It became the county seat on Christmas Eve, 1856 and thrived until the Oregon & California Railroad was constructed in 1884 about 25 miles north of here. This dramatically changed the transportation patterns of the region, essentially making the supply route to the port town of Crescent City unnecessary. The importance of Kerbyville quickly diminished and the county seat was moved to the new railroad town of Grants Pass the following year.

Historic Pioneer Hotel, Kerbyville, on the Redwood Highway 199, Oregon Kerby has three unique furniture makers and, if you want to visit them, note that parking on Highway 199 is limited. You may want to consider parking on Sixth Street, between the two story buildings on the left. Kauffman’s Furniture is in one of these two story buildings and Dovetail Joint is in the other. The third furniture maker is named It’s A Burl and is located across Highway 199. Traffic moves quickly through this area. If you decide to walk to It’s A Burl, cross Highway 199 with a high level of caution. The Agness Sawyer Maple Tree, a tree planted in 1862 by the daughter of the owner of the Pioneer Hotel is located at “It’s A Burl”. The Pioneer Hotel was one of the first buildings in Kerbyville and is shown in the center of the picture with the water tower in the backgournd. The Agness Sawyer Maple Tree can be seen to the right.

Sixth Street is also the end point of the Old Redwood Highway Road Guide. From this point to the town of Wilderville, you will driving approximately on the same route as the original Turnpike and Puncheon Road constructed in 1857 between the gold mining towns of Jacksonville and Crescent City. At Wilderville, this road turned east through the Applegate Valley toward Jacksonville, Oregon.

Historic Floyd Home in Kerbyville, located on Highway 199, Oregon's Redwood Highway.. 2.9 Floyd Home (right): Please observe private residences such as this from the highway. The historic Floyd home was constructed about 1910 as a residence by Franklin Floyd, a local barber. He operated his barber shop from the house and his wife Marilda, a professional dentist, also used the home for her practice. This is the largest older home in Kerby still standing and in relatively unaltered condition. The maple trees in Kerbyville are believed to have all come from seeds of the Agness Sawyer Maple Tree, planted in the 1860s next to the Pioneer Hotel.

3.0 Southern Oregon Archery arrow shaft manufacturing plant (left):
This is the site of the Southern Oregon Archery Company that manufactured arrow shafts. At one time, many of the arrow shafts used in the United States came from this factory. The building covered an area of about 40,000 square feet and produced about 200,000 shafts per month. Shafts were made from the wood of the Port Orford cedar, a tree that only grows in this region. This wood was ideal for arrows because it doesn’t splinter. The business began in a garage in 1953 and was moved to this location a year or two later. The business burned down and was reconstructed with a promising future expected for the enterprise. However, not long after the new factory had been established, the archery industry began using aluminum shafts, which could be manufactured at a lower cost. Southern Oregon Archery went out of business soon after.

3.3 Begin divided road.
Sauers Flat - Use right lane to let faster traffic pass.

Eight Dollar Mountain, seen ahead and on the left, is one of the prominent geographical features in this region. There are several stories about how the mountain got its name with the most popular being a miner who bet he could walk around the mountain in a day and wore out an eight dollar pair of shoes in the process. The advertisement for an eight-dollar pair of boots came from the Josephine County Cattle Brand handbook, probably published in the 1890s.

There is an Oregon State Park located near the summit of Eight Dollar Mountain and a Forest Service botanical area on the other side. The Wild and Scenic Illinois River wraps around its south and west side. The entire mountain is made up of mantle rock and is part of a much larger outcrop of these rocks that make up most of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Smith River National Recreation Area. Together, the outcrop of mantle rock in this region is one of the largest in the North America.

3.9 Sweet Cron:
This sign purposely has the word “corn” misspelled. As the story goes, a sign was made to sell corn and was put up with the misspelled word. After a week of local people kidding them about the misspelled word the owners made a new sign and took down the old. Apparently, many people encouraged them to put up the old sign because the word “cron” had taken a new place in local humor. And so the old sign was put back up. They now have “cron” t-shirts and hats, a good indication that a mistake in spelling has become a local enterprise.

4.3 Road narrows to two lanes before crossing the Reeves Creek Bridge

Lake Selmac County Park near Selma on Oregon's Redwood Highway 199. 4.4 Reeves Creek Road (on right before bridge):
Reeves Creek Road goes to Lake Selmac County Park and follows the general route of the 1852 Cold Springs Mountain Pack Trail, an important supply route from Crescent City to mining operations in southwest Oregon during the 1851 Oregon gold rush. It is possible to follow this road to Lake Selmac. When you reach end of the road at the Lake Shore Drive stop sign, turn left to return to Highway 199. At Highway 199 turn right to continue the tour.

TJ Howell Botanical Road Guide, Eight Dollar Mountain Road to Babyfoot Lake Trail and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, Cave Junction, Redwood Highway 199, Oregon. 5.0 TJ Howell Botanical Drive (left).
Eight Dollar Mountain Road is also known as the TJ Howell Botanical Drive and takes you on a 16 mile journey through the Wild and Scenic Illinois River to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Features include the Eight Dollar Mountain Botanical Area, the site of Oregon's first gold strike, Babyfoot Lake Trail and other hiking trails. Spawning salmon can sometimes be viewed at the Little Illinois River Falls Trail during October.

6.2 Pony Ranch (left):
The intersection with Gold Canyon Drive on the left marks the location of the Pony Ranch Hotel, a two story structure that sat on the flat area this side of the Golden Canyon intersection. The Pony Ranch was a home for high school aged boys that had been rejected from other schools due to discipline problems. They worked at the hotel and on the ranch. The living quarters for the boys is seen in the background left and the watchman's house in the background right. The hotel burned down in the 1940s and the ranch closed soon after.

8.1 Intersection (flashing yellow light). Lake Shore Drive, the road to the right, goes to Lake Selmac with campgrounds, picnicking, fishing, and hiking trails. Other things to see in this area include Camps Forest, McMullin House, and the historic Deer Creek Grange.

Wild and Scenic Illinois River, Selma, Oregon 8.8 SET ODOMETER TO ZERO at Selma (flashing yellow light):
Post Office, gas station, and store.

The Wild and Scenic Illinois River Road Guide follows the paved road to the right into the scenic Illinois River Canyon. This is one of the portals to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness as well as the Southern Oregon University Siskiyou Field Institute.

About 500 feet down Illinois River Road on the right is the site of Camp Kerby, one of five Civilian Conservation Corp camps established in Josephine County during the Depression. This camp was established in 1933 with tents set up as the first residences. The crew constructed several buildings for the camp including a central hall for the camp. All the buildings are gone but the chimney of the central hall is still standing. The rocks used in the chimney are marble, probably from the Oregon Caves area where the crews did a great deal of their work. This camp was eventually moved to a location closer to Oregon Caves and became known by the name of Camp Oregon Caves.

Kerby Peak Trail overlooking Deer Creek Valley, Selma, Oregon The Kerby Peak Trail and Deer Creek Winery are accessed by Deer Creek Road on the other side of Highway 199 (left).

Selma became established in 1897 when the Anderson Post Office, located at the site commonly known as Fort Hay, changed its name and was moved to this location. The reason for the move was probably due to the larger number of farms and residents in this area, known as Deer Creek Valley. The wife of the postmaster came up with the name of Selma for the new post office, in honor of the little town of Selma in Van Buren County, Iowa, near where she was raised.

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Disclaimer: All information in Highway199.org is accurate to the best knowledge of the author. However, conditions in outdoor settings can change dramatically after storms or fires. For this reason, travelers are advised to check current road conditions before traveling through the area, drive responsibly and take measures to understand safety issues in the region. When participating in outdoor activities, always plan and prepare for safe hiking, swimming or any other activities mentioned in the Highway 199 website. More on disclaimer and copyright...